Page 289 - Between One and Many The Art and Science of Public Speaking

Speaking of . . .

Linguistic Relativity

What is true of individual words is even more Thus it would never occur to the Hopi that
true of the language you speak. Whether you someone could be half an hour early or late
speak English, French, Spanish, or Russian for a visit, because they have no words for
makes a difference in how you experience the concept.
and interpret the world. According to the lin- Each language has certain concepts that
guistic relativity hypothesis, introduced cannot be easily expressed in other lan-
linguistic relativity
more than 40 years ago by cultural anthro- guages. The expression “something was
hypothesis
pologist Benjamin Whorf, what we perceive is lost in the translation” doesn’t mean part of
The idea that what prople
infl uenced by the language in which we think a statement was literally lost as it was trans-
perceive is infl uenced by
and speak. Different languages lead to differ- lated from one language to another. It means
the language in which
ent patterns of thought. 2 an identical idea couldn’t be found in the
they think and speak.
Whorf formulated this hypothesis while second language, so part of the statement’s
studying the Native American language of the original meaning was diminished.
Hopi. He discovered there are no words in
their language for the concept of incremental 2 Benjamin Lee Whorf, Language, Thought, and
time: no seconds, no minutes, and no hours. Reality (New York: Wiley, 1956).

analysis to choose words and phrases for your speeches that will help share your
vision with individual audience members. This process begins with the diffi -
cult task of assessing the role language plays in your general life, and the role
it can potentially play in the preparation and delivery of your speeches. For ex-
ample, before reading any further, respond to the self-assessment box, which
concerns: (1) how you use a language and (2) how you respond to others’ use of
language.
If you carefully read and truthfully responded to the statements in the self-
assessment box, your summed scored should reveal the degree to which you are
aware of how your language can affect others, and how others’ language can
affect you. While clichés, slang, and colloquialisms are usually okay in a conver-
sation with friends, they are inappropriate in a job interview. They also should
be avoided or only used with a specifi c purpose in mind in your speeches. When
you adapt your language to people and situations or switch from informal to
formal language, it shows that you are mindful of this fact.
Your reaction to others’ language also is an indication of how fl exible or
infl exible you are in giving meaning to words and phrases. Some people are
receiver-centric—easily turned off to a speaker’s language. Receiver-centric
receiver-centric
audience members apply a very narrow range of meaning to words. Without
A person’s assumption
consulting either the speaker, other audience members, or considering how the
that the meaning he or
context comes into play, receiver-centric audience members force their meaning
she gives to a word or
on the message. Words can, and very often do, have diverse meanings depend-
a phrase is its exclusive
meaning. ing on the context in which they are used and the life experiences of those using
them; you can read about this in the box “Speaking of . . . Linguistic Relativity.”
What’s more, the speech transaction is not a one-way street where the speaker or
the audience member controls meaning. Simply said, the more we know about
the nuances of words and language, the better equipped we are to make good
256 use of them in conversation and speeches. Similarly, the more we know about